Share this image

Morocco on the brink of change

View Gallery

A water seller walks at Marrakesh's famous Jemma el-Fnaa square, June 22, 2012. An Islamist bombing of a cafe last year hurt trade for the snake charmers and trinket sellers who entice foreign tourists to Jemma el-Fnaa, but the euro zone debt crisis risks doing far more lasting damage to business. Abderrahmane Mokhtari / Reuters

A Rick's Cafe's server looks at the poster announcing the 70th anniversary tribute to the 1942 movie 'Casablanca,' in Casablanca, Morocco, Nov. 24, 2012. A former US diplomat spent two years of work and a million dollars in investments to bring Rick's Cafe to Morocco's largest city in 2004. The elegant nightclub where Humphrey Bogart pined for Ingrid Bergman was just a set on a Warner Bros. sound stage in California; the film crew never got anywhere near North Africa. Abdejalil Bounhar / AP

A giant cinema screen has been set up for people to view films in Marrakech's Jemma el-Fnaa, December 7, 2012 during the Marrakech International Film Festival. Abderrahmane Mokhtari / Reuters

A vendor sells cakes and shebbekia, a traditional fried pastry dipped in honey, to customers in the medina of Oujda, one of Morocco's eastern-most cities, August 11, 2010. Youssef Boudlal / Reuters

Vendors sell fruits and vegetables at a market in Rabat, Jan. 15. These vendors, from whom many residents buy dinner on the way home, are unusually quiet. Morocco's cash-strapped government is preparing to launch its biggest economic policy change in years: systemic reform of the system of food and energy subsidies that have kept down the cost of living for millions of people. Reuters

A woman is pulled out of the water by members of Spain's Coast Guard in the sea between Spain and Morocco, Dec. 3, 2012. Twenty-two emigrants in 3 dinghies were recovered by Spain's seamen on Monday, while another 7 emigrants were rescued by Morocco's Coast Guard in the same area. This woman jumped out of her rubber dinghy and swam towards the Spanish rescue ship to avoid being picked up by the Moroccans. Marcos Moreno / AP

Activists cover their eyes while holding a flag that reads 'February 20 movement' at a demonstration demanding the release of political prisoners in Rabat, Jan. 20. Reuters

Moroccan Muslims pray on the esplanade of the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, one of the largest mosques in the world, during the holy month of Ramadan, Aug. 15, 2012. Youssef Boudlal / Reuters

A man works in one of Fez's famous tanneries, July 10, 2010. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

A fisherman works at a fishing port in Agadir, southern Morocco, July 22, 2011. Morocco's public finances are in dire straits for two main reasons: one, the financial crisis in the euro zone, the country's primary economic partner, and two, the government's increased social spending to help contain protests after uprisings brought down the rulers of Egypt and Tunisia. Youssef Boudlal / Reuters

A man sleeps next to his donkey in Fez, July 10, 2010. Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

A mountaineer near Imlil looks over Toubkal Valley in the High Atlas Mountains, Oct. 30, 2009. Jbel Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa (13,671 feet, or 4,167 meters), is visited by thousands of climbers throughout the year. Rafael Marchante / Reuters

After more than a decade of interventions as far-flung as the Hindu Kush, the banks of the Tigris River, and the wadis of Yemen, Washington and its allies are suddenly staring at another remote Islamic militant "sanctuary" – this time the size of the continental United States.